Braves 9, Mets 6
(Source: fangraphs.com - what's this?)
Tom Glavine's pitching line:
IP H R ER BB SO HR PC-ST GS 6.0 7 3 3 0 5 1 95-59 51For the second time in a couple of weeks Tom Glavine and John Smoltz opposed each other. Unlike last time, once the starting pitchers had departed the Mets found themselves in a position to win the ballgame. Much like last time, the Mets did quite the opposite of coming away victorious. The offense rocked Smoltz for six runs in 5.2 innings and Glavine became the second Met in two nights to go at least six innings without issuing a walk.
Unfortunately for the Mets, their bullpen didn't bother showing up on Sunday. Or, more accurately, they *did* show up, but they abandoned any semblence of usefulness long before arriving at the ballpark. Other than Aaron Sele, who somehow recorded two outs without even allowing a batter to reach base, every single Met reliever was something like a miserable failure. Scott Schoeneweis, who has now walked seven batters in 6.2 innings, has been terrible so far this season, and one really has to wonder what manner of incriminating evidence he has against Omar Minaya to have solicited a three-year contract when no other team was even rumored to have been interested in his so-called "services".
After dramatically taking the lead in the sixth inning, the Braves evened the score with an Edgar Renteria three-run homerun off of Schoeneweis and went ahead to stay on Kelly Johnson's three-run bomb off of Aaron Heilman. Heilman's runs were unearned thanks to Jose Valentin's booting of Jeff Francoeur's grounder, but it's still Heilman's job to get out of that inning unscathed and he did no such thing.
I'm not going to aggrandize the disappointing result of this game (and of the series, really) or the complete dismantling of this team's bullpen administered by the Braves. It was a tough loss to swallow, that we can be sure of; but it it was only one game, and these teams will meet another twelve or so times over the next five months. The Braves have the upper hand right now, so you tip you cap and move on to the next series.
Mr. Met:
- Hitting: Jose Reyes, 29.3% WPA
- Pitching: Aaron Sele, 2.3% WPA
- Hitting: Carlos Beltran, -15.4% WPA
- Pitching: Aaron Heilman, -41.0% WPA